


Hanezeve Caradhina

by Mahkachan



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: BAMF Dr. Flug, Black Hat may be slightly off-character, Dr. Flug's backstory, Family Drama, Father-Son Relationship, Inspired by a Movie, Lots of Original Characters - Freeform, M/M, Mind Control, Non-human!Dr. Flug, One-sided attraction (lizardhat), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overpowered Dr. Flug, Protective Siblings, Secret Identity, Self-Harm, horns and tails, inspired by an anime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2019-11-13 15:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18034646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mahkachan/pseuds/Mahkachan
Summary: Dr. Flug doesn't like to talk about his past. It is generally agreed upon by everyone that he is just your average human villain that likes to sometimes indulge in his sadistic tendencies, and sometimes work on his plane models in secret.However, there is a lot more to the young doctor than people give him credit for.





	1. Prologue: a father's plight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, people. I am alive. I'd like to apologize for scaring everyone by making you think I was going to delete my account. I *WAS* going to, but my mother managed to convince me to keep it intact until I felt better, and I'm glad she did it. I feel like I ought to explain myself, so I will.
> 
> Basically, I said a few things in the vent channel of a Discord chat that could be understood as self-harm, and some people pulled me aside to talk to me. One of them said I was probably "asking for attention as I didn't get enough of it at home" (I do get love and attention at home). I know they didn't mean to hurt me, and were trying to help, but accusing me of seeking attention when I just want a safe place to vent my frustrations with my mental illness hurts me deeply, like being sliced from inside out. Please be careful with your words around people with mental illness. We feel like we can't talk about our struggles with anyone without being judged. It's hard enough as it is. Please don't do this to us.
> 
> I want to say that I'm not blaming them. They were just looking out for the other participants of the Discord server, and I totally understand that. I don't want anyone to think the person who accidentally hurt my feelings is the bad guy, but, at the same time, I don't want to be painted as a toxic person. This fandom has helped me cope a lot with my struggles and you're all so welcoming and nice. I want to thank all of you for helping me with your words of encouragement, even when I feel like I don't deserve it.
> 
> I love all of you. I really do.
> 
> And now, without further ado, I present to you my newest fanfic! Yes, I still am working on Streak of luck and won't abandon it anymore. I feel much less like a piece of crap now, so let's go.

**_.  .  ._ **

 

“Have you slept at all, Marco?”

Marco Ferrera Junior’s heart almost leapt to his throat as he whipped his head around to stare at his husband, Dakota Flugslys. The other man was wearing a loose shirt and stripped shorts, and he looked very, very tired. There were bags under his eyes and his blonde hair was a mess. After the initial shock was over, Marco allowed himself to relax a little. In response to his spouse’s slurred question, he simply sighed and leaned back on his couch. He hated to admit that he himself had not slept for two days straight. He had just spent most of his days on that couch, thinking about his life and wallowing in self-pity. When was the last time he had taken a bath? When was the last time he had brushed his teeth, or combed his hair, or done anything to take care of his health? Honestly, he didn’t have enough energy to do any of that. Marco felt like he was rotting away in that couch. That wasn’t good for his psyche. After seeing that his husband wouldn’t respond, Dakota joined his husband on the couch. Thankfully there was still space for him to sit on, despite Marco being sprawled all over like a fat elderly cat.

“Marco, this isn’t healthy.” He was met with silence and a sideways glance. “I know you have bouts of depression. I understand how Bipolar Disorder works. But it’s not healthy to just rot away on this couch. You need to seek help; if not for yourself or me, then for Andromeda, and for _our unborn child_.”

This caught Marco’s attention almost instantly.

Andromeda Elizabeth Flugslys was Dakota’s daughter from a previous relationship. Her mother was, for the lack of a better word, a cunt, leaving both her daughter and husband to fend for themselves. Dakota had met Marco when Andromeda was just a toddler, and she took an immediate liking to him. According to her, her mother never existed in the first place; Marco Ferrera had always been her papa. Dakota and Marco had both been happy about that. Marco’s husband always thought his daughter was the prettiest, most precious girl to ever exist, and Marco had to agree. Andromeda had beautiful blonde curls that reached her waist, and mesmerizing blue eyes to match. Every time she smiled her dimples made an appearance. How could Marco not agree that she could easily beat the best models in the world when it came to appearance _and_ personality? Every time his depression got the best of him, Andromeda would make Marco a card with incorrect grammar and a stick drawing of her family to cheer him up. It lightened the scientist’s mood almost instantly. You had to appreciate her efforts. She was trying, dammit!

And then there was their soon-to-be son or daughter.

Marco looked at the table at the center of the living room, where a makeshift nest lied. In it, there was a black-and-red egg. That egg was what had started it all. In all honesty, Marco was still unsure on whether an actual living being would come out of that egg, or if it would come out healthy, but, despite not believing in any gods, he prayed it did. He had grown an unhealthy attachment to that egg. But, then again, what parent doesn’t get attached to their child during their first years of life, or even _before that_? Dakota was also very excited to greet their newest addition to the family. One thing he couldn’t understand, however, was that Marco refused to speak about the egg’s other parent. He could understand it in a sense, as his ex-wife was a sore subject for him, but Marco seemed to have a deep hatred of whoever had laid that egg (it clearly wasn’t him). Dakota wanted so badly to ask what had happened between the other parent and Marco, but he held himself back. Thankfully, Andromeda distracted him with all of the name suggestions for the future baby.

“I have never told you about my old boss, have I?” Marco asked his husband. Dakota was about to ask what he was talking about when Marco continued, “He was a loveless bastard. Never appreciated anything anyone did. To him, we were pawns he could move around as he pleased and throw away when we were no longer useful to him, and we knew. We knew, and we still took our chances. Call me crazy if you want, but I was a bit of a megalomaniac back then. Still am, I think. I’m not entirely sure, never bothered to check. I wanted to be respected as a villain, so it was a hit-or-miss job for me. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, you know?” Marco let out a dry laugh. Dakota was worried that the lack of sleep had started killing his husband’s brain cells.

“Marco, you should go to sleep. I’ll watch the egg,” he suggested, trying to reason with his spouse. It was useless.

“He didn’t care about me, or my coworkers, or anyone. Like I said, we were pawns. There was this young woman I had a crush on… Her name was Natalia. She was smart and beautiful, and I think she loved me too. We were starting to form a decent relationship and I was going to ask her out. My boss let her be hit by a flying car thrown by a hero. He could’ve _saved her_ , but he didn’t. He said that she had weakened me mentally, and that he was doing me a favor. I wanted to be angry at him, but I couldn’t, because I knew what I was getting myself into when I got that god-forsaken job.”

“That… doesn’t sound healthy,” Dakota commented, feeling a shiver run down his spine. He knew his husband used to be a villain, but Marco never talked about what happened before he quit and moved to Germany. Hearing all of this now… It made him cringe. Marco just smirked at him. He would probably regret having shared his life story later, when his body wasn’t shutting down due to the exhaustion, but, right now, he was enjoying this somewhat one-sided conversation.

“It wasn’t. But telling an eldritch abomination about what is healthy to your employees is like telling a train about spaghetti.”

Dakota blinked. His brain had gone haywire trying to understand those last few words. “…What?”

“I said—”

“I know what you said, honey. But _what does it mean_?”

“I don’t know. I’m very tired,” Marco admitted.

“I can see that.”

“Well, the rest of the story is short,” Marco continued as if nothing had happened. “I kept working for him. My sanity was slipping. We fucked. And then I left. Life went on, you know?”

“You had coitus with your employer…?”

Marco scowled. “Don’t you ever dare say the word ‘coitus’ again. It makes you sound like a lawyer. I hate lawyers.”

“I _am_ a lawyer.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since ever…? Hun, you’re sleep deprived. If you keep going like this you’ll trigger some sort of early-onset Alzheimer or something. Let’s go to bed, please.” Marco ignored his husband’s desperate plea and continued his tale.

“Well, ignoring your inappropriate use of the English word for sex — seriously, you could’ve said, I don’t know, ‘fornication’ and I wouldn’t have wanted to kill myself as much as I do now —, yes, I did have sex with my boss. It wasn’t my idea. Or maybe it was. Hell if I know. I was drunk. He was too... somehow. We both woke up not remembering anything about it, but it was clear what had happened; namely, the fact that we were both naked and sharing a bed. You don’t go to sleep naked with your boss, Kota. You just don’t. That’ll make things weird later on. Trust me on this one,” he looked like he was trying to teach his husband a lesson, like an old mentor with his young pupil, but he ended up looking like a stoned homeless man giving bad life lessons to a teenager wanting to go home instead. “I was still useful to him, so he did me a favor by not mauling me there and then.” Marco’s eyes then went to the egg in front of him, and a flash of a few memories hit him hard. His hands curled into fists. Dakota noticed. He became even more worried (as if he wasn’t worried enough). At this point, he had accepted that trying to make the other man go to sleep just wasn’t working anymore. If he was going to do this, he might as well get some answers.

“What happened after that?” he asked.

“We moved on at first. It was an unspoken rule that the sex never happened. So it never did. It did, but it never did. You get that?”

“No.”

“Great. I’m moving on,” Marco said. Dakota rolled his eyes. “He started acting strangely all of the sudden. My boss was a prideful megalomaniac who wouldn’t miss a chance at being on the spotlight, but he just _disappeared_ suddenly. Turns out he had locked himself in his room all that time, doing god knows what. I don’t want to know. And that’s when the bloodbath started. At first, random animals’ carcasses started appearing in the city, their hearts missing. A week later, the same thing started happening to humans. Everyone was desperate. I knew he had something to do with it, but I wasn’t going to face him so soon after that weird-ass one-night stand. We both had limited our encounters to the bare minimum required.” Dakota nodded.

“Did your boss end up having anything to do with the murders?”

“Yes. One day he called me into his office. I mentally prepared myself to die and went. I open the door and there he is, looking like death itself. He was holding an egg.”

“Please tell me this isn’t going where I think it’s going.”

“Sorry, hon, our unborn child is half-eldritch horror. But you know what they say: the true beauty is inside,” Marco said. “This is a total lie, of course. If you look like Satan’s excrement nobody will want you. But I don’t really care, as long as the baby is healthy—”

“Marco,” Dakota rose his voice. It wasn’t enough to wake their daughter up, but it did catch his husband’s attention. “I’m not worried about our child’s appearance, but you can’t just…” He sighed, rubbing his temples. “Aren’t you worried they might find out about this? Imagine discovering you’re the result of a drunken one-night stand between your father and his boss. I’d have a mental breakdown. _Anyone_ would have a mental breakdown. You can’t push this kind of information on a child. Please, for the love of god, let’s not speak about this. _Ever_.” Dakota took some time to recover before turning to his husband again. He was looking at the egg silently. “I love you. I love the baby. But we can’t do this to them. It’s unfair.”

“I know!” Marco yelled, suddenly having lost his temper. “Don’t you think I know this? I do! It’s my fault they’re here, and that they were unwanted, but I’m trying to make up for it, okay?” He looked down. Dakota placed a hand on his spouse’s knee.

“I’m glad,” he said. Marco smiled. “You said they were unwanted…?”

Marco’s smile fell. “He wasn’t very… fond of the egg, or the idea of being a parent. It sounded unlike him. Maybe he thought that the child was a threat to his status, that maybe it would grow to become as powerful as him. Or maybe he thought that it would just be a burden. Hell if I know. He wanted to… He wanted to break the egg.” Dakota, to put it simply, lost his shit.

“What?!”

“I know, right?” Marco chuckled sadly. “I objected, of course. He said that our child probably wouldn’t live long, or look right. He said they’d look like some sort of unholy amalgamation. I’m afraid he might be right…” As much as he hated it, there was a chance that his child would end up being some sort of horrible abomination. Part of him hated himself for thinking that perhaps he might not love his child as much if that were to happen, that he might end up loving the baby more the more human they looked, but could he blame himself? Every parent wants what is best for their kin, and being an unholy amalgamation, as his boss said it, was a disadvantage at life. The child would be bullied relentlessly _if_ they lived long enough to go to school. Every parent wants their child to outlive them, it’s only natural, so to think that his son or daughter might not make it, or that they might be a stillborn, makes Marco shudder. “What if they don’t make it?” he accidentally wonders out loud. Oh, what a mistake. He really needs to sleep.

“Don’t say that!” his husband scolded him, crossing his arms. “We must have faith! Even against all odds, I can feel that our child will be healthy as a horse!” Marco blanched at those words. He appreciated the sentiment, and the fact that his husband remained optimistic despite the situation, but he really could’ve worded it better.

“That’s a stupid saying.”

“You’re the one who said something about trains and spaghetti.”

“You do it more often than I do. God, I’m having the ‘coitus’ flashbacks all over again.”

“Shut up. ‘Coitus’ is a perfectly acceptable word.”

“Said the lawyer,” Marco retorted. Dakota gasped, putting a hand on his chest in faux hurt. He prepared to counter-attack when the two heard footsteps coming from behind them. The shadow of a tired toddler holding a giraffe plushy was making its way to them. “Andromeda?” Marco asked, for the first time in ages standing up from the couch to then lower himself to his daughter’s level. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” he asked the four-year-old sweetly, pushing one of her blonde curls behind her ear.

“I had a nightmare,” she whispered, hugging the plushy tightly.

“Why don’t you go sleep with her, hon?” Dakota suggested. Marco was going to protest, but his daughter gave him the most adorable puppy eyes and he could no longer deny her that request. “I’ll watch the egg, don’t worry.” Marco and Dakota exchanged glances before he smiled tiredly and nodded, following his daughter upstairs. Dakota watched the two leave his sight before sighing and turning to the egg. One of the windows in the living room was open, letting in the cool wind of the night, and the nocturnal light of the moon was making the egg’s shell shine brightly. It just made Dakota wonder how they’d do this. He leaned back against the couch.

It was going to be a long night.

 

**_.  .  ._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2.500 exact words! Impressive, huh? Well, I'm sure you all can see what this fanfic is about. This is a short chapter, and the next one might come pretty soon. I'm feeling very happy now.
> 
> Also, I have a few things to share! Some of you might not care about my personal life, but, for those who do, you might want to read this. We have a kitten now! She's not going to stay with us permanently, but she's too little to take care of herself (she's maybe a few days old?) so we're doing it instead. I also went to my first sleepover ever! My friend recently came out to me as an atheist and had a few concerns so I comforted her about it. We watched Gravity Falls and Ducktales. It rocked. We also played Uno. I won three times in a row. Ha.
> 
> See you all next chapter!


	2. Broken illusions and cheap lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demencia's usual roughhousing goes terribly wrong, resulting in an injured Dr. Flug. Can things get worse than this?
> 
> a) yes  
> b) definitely  
> c) abolutely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM NOT DEAD.
> 
> In case you couldn't tell from my... peculiar Homobros Inc chapters that I keep posting for whatever reason. Anyway, if you are wondering about Streak of Luck, yes, I have not given up on it! Far from it, in fact. That fanfic might be considered my Golden Child. But hey! I don't pick favorites. I love all my fanfics equally. 
> 
> .... But I think we can all agree that Homobros Inc is the stoner, black sheep of the family.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Also, for the picture, yes, I drew it, which is why it's such a shitty drawing lol

 

**_.  .  ._ **

****

_Andromeda yawned and stretched as she sat upright on her bed. She looked at the clock in her nightstand to check the time. It was three in the morning. She looked out the window, and the moon was still shining brightly in the sky, surrounded by stars. Not a cloud was too be seen that night; not when she went to sleep, and not when she woke up. Sometimes she would stay awake a little later to watch the sky in nights like these, and appreciate the silence it provided. Hearing the crickets singing while the fresh breeze of the night entered her room would make her go to sleep faster than any bedtime story. She smiled and looked out the window again. The neighborhood was silent, and not a soul was outside. It wasn’t unusual, of course. Most people would be asleep by now, preparing to go to school or work._

_Suddenly Ann felt the thirst of a thousand trapped souls overcome her. Grabbing her giraffe plushy, Girafita (it was a stupid name, she admitted, but she was young and dumb), she made her way down the stairs to grab a glass of water._

_When she reached the end of the stairs, however, she saw a silhouette in the darkness near their front door. Having a mini-stroke for a second, she calmed down upon recognizing the form of the person almost instantly: her brother. It wasn’t unusual for him to leave the house in the middle of the night for a stroll sometimes, but she was almost always asleep and never got to see him actually do it. Instead of leaving the house, however, he simply stood there, staring the wooden door as if contemplating on his life choices (a huge mood, if Ann could say so herself). She wanted to tiptoe up to him for a legendary jumpscare, but stopped herself for two reasons: one, her brother had extremely sensitive hearing, and so he would immediately pick up on what she was trying to do; two, if he by a miracle didn’t notice her and she actually went through with her plan, it was 90% likely the house would end up in flames, and their house was made of wood, which was even worse. Instead of being dumb, she decided to approach him casually._

_And then she noticed the suitcase._

_“Hey, Hel,” she said normally, trying to suppress her curiosity and dread for now. Still, her grip on Girafita tightened considerably. She hoped her brother wouldn’t notice._

_Hel turned around. There was a window near their door, which allowed the moonlight to illuminate the room a little bit. Said light now highlighted the carry-on suitcase beside him. Ann’s first emotion was confusion, followed by the urge to laugh as the suitcase, which belonged to their Papa, was almost as big as Hel himself. Ann could see Hel’s relief for a second, before he went neutral again. “Why are you up so late, Lizzie?” he asked. Ann scoffed._

_“I could ask the same, Hel. What’s up with the suitcase? Are you going to Vegas or something?” she joked. Her brother didn’t laugh; he never did. But there was something more ominous to his silence this time, and Ann wasn’t liking this one bit._

_Hel gave her a blank stare. “You should go back to sleep.”_

_“You should answer me before I call Papa,” Ann threatened. Hal smirked a little._

_“You really are the daughter of a lawyer.” His smirk then dropped. He stared at the suitcase for a moment, seemingly contemplating what to say. He then looked up, staring at his sister in the eye. “I’m leaving.”_

_Ann blinked. “Oh…” She paused for a second. “And when are you coming back?”_

_“Lizzie,” Hal said, sighing. “I’m leaving forever.”_

**_Forever_ ** _. Those words echoed through Andromeda’s mind as she tried to comprehend what her brother was saying. “What? What do you mean?” She could feel her voice crack. Hal avoided her eyes, choosing to focus on the suitcase near him instead. Ann started feeling more and more desperate. She clutched her plushy on her chest tightly. “Loki Helsing Ferrera-Flugslys, answer me! What do you mean you’re leaving forever?!”_

_“Don’t shout. You’re going to wake our parents up,” Hal replied instead, successfully dodging the topic. He didn’t seem to mind the fact that his sister had used his full name, despite it being one of the banes of most children’s existences._

_“Well, I just might if you don’t tell me what you mean!” Ann exclaimed. Her dad and pops were heavy sleepers, so Hal must be really worried about her waking them up if he didn’t remember that. The younger boy looked at her for a moment, trying to see if she was serious, before sighing and analyzing his options. Giving in was the only reasonable one at the moment. Besides, Lizzie was his best friend. She deserved the truth, even if he wanted to avoid hurting her at all costs._

_“I didn’t want to tell you this because you would try to stop me—” he started._

_“Heck yes, I would,” Ann cut him off._

_He didn’t seem fazed at all by the interruption. “I’m going to start a new life somewhere else. I will have a new identity and goals, and I will be completely human for the first time in my life. I also didn’t tell you because saying goodbye would be too painful for me and you. I don’t want you to think about it.” Loki took a deep breath and then gave his sister a look that she could only describe as powerless. “Please forget about me.” He took a step back, inching closer towards the door._

_Ann tried to give a sarcastic laugh in disbelief, but it sounded more like a sob. “You can’t do this!” she pleaded. “You’re only nine-years-old! How the hell… You can’t just…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence, as her brain was clouded with multiple thoughts at the same time. Hel remained quiet. “I know you’re very mature, maybe more than me… definitely more than me… but you’re not going to survive out there, Loki. Where will you even go? Who’s going to let a kid just go around without their parents?”_

_“I have a fake ID.”_

_“Where did you even get that?”_

_“I made it myself.”_

_“Of course you did,” Ann sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Her throat was hurting as she tried to prevent the tears from pouring out. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t argue with her brother. He was smarter than her, and stronger than her, so trying to physically force him to stay wasn’t an option. “I can’t do anything to stop you, can I?” she asked with a sad smile, feeling defeated. She was exhausted both physically and mentally, and, unlike her brother, she wouldn’t be able to stay there all night._

_“I’m sorry,” Hel said. He spun on his heels, extending his hand to open the door and leave before the situation would escalate, but Ann stopped him._

_“Wait, Hel!” she called. Her brother paused, turning back to her. Ann looked down at the plushy in her hands. Girafita had been a gift from her Papa when he married her Daddy, and she had been with Ann when she needed her most. At that moment, she knew that Loki would need someone to watch over him while he was gone. “I want you to have Girafita,” she said, handing him the plushy. Loki stared at the plushy, and then at his sister, confused._

_“But you love this plushy.”_

_“I know,” she replied. “She’s helped me go through many things, and I know that she will help you too.” Ann snickered a little. “I know it sounds dumb, but please take her; if not for that reason, then as a memory of me— a farewell gift of sorts.” Loki nodded, clutching the plushy to his chest like Ann usually did. It reminded her of when he was just a toddler, looking up to her and mimicking her behavior. Back then she felt so important, like a role model for her brother. Seeing him acting so mature now was a real eye-opener. Loki was still young, but he wasn’t a kid anymore._

_“I will take good care of her,” he promised._

_“I know you will,” Ann said. “I’m going to miss you.”_

_“I will too,” Loki told her. “I have to go now.”_

_Andromeda didn’t want him to go. She wanted to lunge at him and drag him back to bed so they could forget this nonsense. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. But she knew she wouldn’t. Her brother opened the door, and then spared her one last glance. She stared into his crimson-colored eyes, and then all of her fears vanished. He would be okay. She knew he would be. After two seconds of saying their goodbyes silently with only a stare, Loki turned around and left the house, closing the door behind him. And just like that her brother was gone. Andromeda felt a shiver go up her spine as the silence once again filled the room. The song of the crickets that she once loved was almost deafening to her ears. The house felt cold without Loki’s presence. Even though he was a quiet child who barely spoke a word, his presence was still so prominent that Ann had grown accustomed by it. She could now understand why her parents said that one would only value something once they lost it. But there was one flaw to this argument:_

_She hadn’t lost her brother._

_Andromeda knew she would see him again. It didn’t matter if it was in five years or fifty, she knew she would._

_She automatically went back upstairs, feeling empty inside. She barely paid any mind to the coldness of the floor under her feet as she plopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. And then she cursed mentally._

_She forgot to get the damn glass of water._

**_.  .  ._ **

****

It was yet another uneventful day in the manor.

Well, it truly depends on what one’s definition of “eventful” is. The manor was no stranger to commotion and loud sounds, be it from Dr. Kenning Flugslys’s laboratory or due to Demencia’s antics. Sometimes Black Hat would let out a tinnitus-worthy screech, but those were rare days. There always seemed to be something happening, however. As they say, silence really is golden. Flug learned to appreciate the silence when it actually happened, considering Demencia seemed to always know his location and how to enter his laboratory without putting in any effort to be polite. Right at this very moment Flug’s brain was divided in two parts: one of them was focusing on the new acid for his newest invention that would be marketed in two days, and the other was preparing itself for the inevitable interruption, which would probably lead to him trying to prevent a certain hybrid from killing herself, him, or both of them.

As expected, he heard the sound of footsteps right above his head. A normal person would’ve already had a heart attack, but Flug had learned to cope with Demencia’s hijinks and not go into cardiac arrest every time she approached him sneakily. “I know you’re on the ceiling, Demencia,” the doctor replied as he picked up a beaker containing a highly corrosive acid with the utmost care. He had learned from his past mistakes not to leave such things out in the open. Last time he was that careless, Black Hat ended up spitting acid on 5.0.5’s face. The poor thing looked like he came out of a horror movie. After that incident he bought some acid-resistant equipment.

“Ugh, you’re such a party-pooper,” Demencia complained as she dropped from the floor, landing perfectly on her feet. “So, what’re you working on?”

Flug sighed, putting the beaker down so he wouldn’t drop it. This was a mistake he couldn’t afford to make. He turned to the hybrid, who was bouncing up and down in excitement. It was nothing out of the ordinary for her to be enthusiastic about bugging other people until they tried to run into a wall to escape the suffering, but she seemed much more energetic than usual. Had she found out where he kept the coffee? It didn’t matter. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of her right now. “Don’t you have someone else to bother? Maybe a hero you need to maul? Why are you even here anyway? You have a job, much like me!” he complained. Demencia shrugged, scurrying past him to grabbing an empty vial to look inside. Flug was going to protest, but he would rather she touched something empty instead of the acid that was just an arm’s length away from her.

“I already annoyed the bear but then I got bored. I tried to talk to Blackie but he wouldn’t open the door to me. Can you believe it?” she asked, as if their boss had just committed a sin. Flug rolled his eyes.

“How dare he,” he said mockingly.

“I know, right? But don’t worry, one day he’ll realize I’m the love of his life,” she said, throwing the vial away like it was a piece of crumbled paper. Flug silently apologized to the vial for its tragic death. The doctor sat down, picking up a notebook containing the formula for the acid he just made. Meanwhile, Demencia kept rambling. “You know, you really should get a girlfriend. It might be one hell of a challenge, but I can pull it off. It depends on how ugly your face is, though. Maybe it’s very ugly and that’s why you use that paper bag and you can’t get a girlfriend.”

Flug rolled his eyes. “I don’t want a girlfriend.”

“Oh, so you root for the other team? That’s cool. Lots of guys are into megalomaniac twinks.” How did she even know what that word meant? And… did she just call him a ‘twink’? The scientist sighed.

“I’m not interested in romance,” he explained slowly, fixing a detail in his formula.

“Oooh.” Demencia paused for a second. “So you’re even lamer than I thought.” Flug ignored her. He continued to add notes to his formula. He had to deliver that product at five, and he didn’t have any time to waste, unlike Demencia. He speculated that she only had so much free time because her job was simple: kill and destroy. Meanwhile, the scientist had to prepare, draw, theorize, build, test, and make sure the hybrid didn’t get in the way of the product’s functionality in the process. It was too much work for one simple person, but he had gotten used to it. The days of stress were nothing to him compared to a regular person, who would have already had a mental breakdown by now. Thankfully he was no regular person. He hated to admit it, but at least it helped with his job. “Hey, what’s this?” Demencia suddenly asked, having noticed the acid Flug was trying to protect.

The two of them made eye contact for half a second before Demencia lunged towards the beaker. Despite being closer, Flug was unable to compete with the hybrid’s physical prowess. He was glad she managed not to knock it over while she stumbled around the table like a pregnant seal. The scientist was going to rush over to try and take the beaker from her hands, but his rational side alerted him that this would not be a good idea unless he was trying to severely injure them both. Demencia analyzed the green liquid inside the beaker like she was a scientist. “So, what’s this for?” she asked, and didn’t wait for an answer as she started spouting theories. “Is this edible? What does it taste like? Let me see!” And so, like the brilliant mastermind that she was (not), Demencia brought the beaker to her lips and started tipping it. Normally, Flug would let her suffer the consequences in hopes she would gain some experience from her mistakes, considering she was highly resistant to almost everything (bordering immortality), but he knew she wouldn’t, because she had the IQ of a pebble. Besides, she was trying to drink his project, and he wouldn’t stand for it.

“Give me that!” he demanded, pulling on the beaker.

Demencia immediately became possessive of the beaker, dead set on drinking the acid to see what it tasted like. “Pry it from my cold, dead hands!” she yelled, like a warrior seconds before going to war. _That’s not how this works!_ Flug wanted to yell back, but he remained calm and simply pursued his lips while remaining a steady grip on the beaker. “You know what? Take it if you want it so much!” And, without any warning, she let go of the beaker… the beaker that Flug had been pulling towards himself. The scientist didn’t have time to stop it, as he didn’t even have time to process what had just happened, before the events unfolded like they did.

It immediately spilled all over him.

“Fuck!” Flug screamed as the acid spilled all over his chest, dissolving everything in its path. Cotton, skin, muscles, it didn’t matter. He had tested that acid on lots of things, including steel, iron, and titanium. If it managed to corrode those things in less than five seconds, Flug knew that it would destroy a human being without a trace.

Demencia, too, was horrified. She imagined the liquid was a somewhat harmless experiment, not an _extremely corrosive acid_. She never really felt fear or disgust, and she also didn’t feel fondness unless it was towards Black Hat, but she considered Flug to be somewhat of an older brother to her. She was that annoying younger sister that would annoy the scientist until he forcefully kicked her out of the room, and who he would compete with for Black Hat’s attention. She liked to tease him a lot, she would gladly admit, and sometimes it even got physical (as that was her thing), but she never seriously harmed him. Well, maybe there was a broken arm here and a sprained leg there, and some mental traumas all over the place, but those were never permanent or too serious, and nothing Flug couldn’t handle. Being dissolved alive, however, was something he couldn’t handle. He was just a human, after all, and nothing more. If that happened to Demencia, she would feel a cool sensation (she was immune to pain at this point) and then it would take a few hours, but her body would eventually heal itself, due to her advanced healing factor.

“Are you okay?” she asked idiotically, like an idiot.

“I am obviously not!” Flug replied back, looking down at his chest. He could already see his vital organs. That acid was very efficient. On one hand, he was proud, but on the other, it wouldn’t help since Demencia had spilled everything on him. Adding a third hand, he shouldn’t focus on the efficiency of his product, but rather on the fact that he had to do something. Demencia was just standing there like Simba after his father’s death, so she wouldn’t be much help. “Stand aside, Demencia. I-I have to fix this,” Flug ordered firmly. This seemed to have brought the hybrid back to Earth.

“Uh, wait! I can help! Let me, uh, lick it off!” she suggested, proud of herself for thinking quickly. She immediately marched towards him with a purpose, but he stood back.

“Heck no! You’re not doing anything, much less licking my chest! Just go kill someone o-or something!” Flug said loudly as he clutched his exposed chest. Things were getting much worse. Demencia, somehow, hadn’t suspected that he should have died at this point. In fact, he should have died as soon as the acid made contact with his skin. The shock from the pain would be enough to kill an ordinary human. Thankfully for him, Demencia was not smart enough to put two and two together. However, if he continued to prevent the lizard-woman from doing stupid decisions regarding this situation then he would risk the chance of the acid leaving permanent damage. It was something he could easily fix, but, if he did, then how would he explain this later?

“LET ME HELP!” Demencia bellowed like a wounded animal, charging towards him. The situation gave Flug Deja-Vu. He looked around, but there was nowhere else to go. He could either let Demencia mess him up even more, or he could give up. Either way, he was cornered—

_BLAM._

“ **What the absolute fuck could you two halfwits possibly be bickering about this time?!** ”

Well, fuck.

Demencia spun around to find the love of her life, her eternal soulmate, her one and only, her beloved evil mastermind and idol, and many other words she was too tired to think of, standing on the doorway, looking like someone had just stabbed his leg and taken off with his hat as a prize. He had an eternal scowl on his face, arms crossed in disapproval. Still, she wasn’t fazed by her boss’s apparent displeasure due to her and Flug’s small argument. While the two of them stood absolutely still, with Demencia not taking her eyes off the eldritch she knew was the only man of her life, Black Hat’s expression of anger deepened as he received no response, getting only thousand-yard stares instead. “Are you two morons going to just stand there losing the few brain cells you have remaining or are you going to _answer my goddamn question_?” he demanded, having already lost the last shred of patience he had. This snapped Demencia out of her enamored stupor. She gave him a very seductive (in her mind) smile as she sauntered towards him. In her mind, she was being very flirtatious, but, in reality, she looked as if one of her legs was a few centimeters shorter than the other.

“Oh, Blackie, the love of my life—” she began, only to be interrupted.

“Cut the crap, you braindead serpent,” Black Hat cut her off, pushing her back. He was seemingly trying to touch her as little as possible. Considering the amount of times Demencia actually cleaned herself properly per year, this was reasonable. She was entirely oblivious to this, however.

“As you wish, dear,” she replied, winking. Black Hat tried not to gag. “Well, you see, I was teasing the nerd here and—” She then stopped herself as her eyes went wide. “Holy fuck!” she shouted in realization. Shit, she totally forgot about Flug! He was dissolving right before her eyes! She was almost afraid to turn around. Was he dead? Was he _dying_? While she was up for some frolicsome roughhousing (and she did put _rough_ in _rough_ housing), she never intended to kill anyone in the house! For one, Black Hat couldn’t die, and neither could 5.0.5. And finally, Dr. Flug was smart enough to know that he should avoid messing with Demencia at all costs. Why did he even try to defend that stupid acid in the first place? Ignoring all red flags going off in her head, Demencia turned around, expecting to find a puddle of leftover meat and acid.

But she was wrong.

Instead of a pile of just flesh and bones, her eyes landed on Flug, completely fine. She looked down at his chest, wondering how he managed to stop the acid from liquidating him completely. However, she was not expecting to find a perfectly healthy, if not a little nervous, scientist standing where a slowly dying one once was. At first Demencia thought that, while she used her feminine charm to entrance Black Hat, he had managed to find some sort of serum to counter the effects of the acid, but that idea was immediately scrapped once Demencia saw that Flug’s clothes didn’t have a single spot or scratch on them. If he had truly managed to heal himself while she wasn’t looking, his clothes would still have a burn on them, made by the acid that had spilled on him. So, if he hadn’t healed himself, then what the fuck just happened?

“I-I’m very sorry for disturbing you, sir,” Flug apologized, noticing Demencia’s expression of pure awe and realizing she wasn’t going to say anything anytime soon. “Demencia and I had a small… disagreement, but I think we’re okay now...”

Black Hat narrowed his eyes, seemingly not believing in his employee’s word. But, seeing how Demencia was choosing to stare at Flug in consternation instead of ogling and sexually harassing him, he decided it was better to let go. “This had better not happen again. I will be much less lenient the next time. And, doctor, you’d better have the product I asked for or you will find out what hell is like,” he threatened, not waiting for an answer before diving into the shadows and disappearing. Surprisingly, Demencia did not even notice he was gone. She had completely tuned out his presence after she turned around to stare at Flug. Speaking of which, he was starting to feel uncomfortable with Demencia’s eyes over him.

“You should go hunt some heroes or something,” he advised, approaching the hybrid to lead her towards the laboratory’s door. “Now I have to clean the mess you made and make a new acid from scratch.”

Demencia didn’t budge, however. She slapped Flug’s hand off her arm like his touch could burn her, and narrowed his eyes at him. “You should have died.”

Flug raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“The acid! The goddamn acid! It was burning you, and you were all like ‘oh no, I’m dying’! I saw it! I saw it with my two eyes!” she screamed, pointing at her eyes. “And now you’re standing here, not dead! What did you do? How did you do it? Tell me, I need to know!”

Flug took a step back, and then he said something she never thought she’d hear from him when she said that.

“Demencia, that never happened.”

It took her a few seconds to process the answer. “What?”

Flug sighed. “It never happened. The beaker dropped and that was it. I thankfully managed to dodge before I was hit by anything. You must have hallucinated due to the acid’s smell and imagined the whole thing in your head due to some fucked-up wish for me to die or something,” he explained, getting on his knees to pick up the broken shards of the beaker (he really needed to invest in some plastic beakers). Demencia gave him a blank stare, trying to put the pieces together in her head. Flug was smart, and he was a scientist, so he knew stuff, obviously. But it still didn’t make sense! It was too real, and she knew she had seen it with her own eyes! And since when did she listen to that nerd anyway? She was ignorant and stubborn and proud of it! And… and… and she didn’t want him to die, what the heck? Is that what he thought of their bickering? That she was trying to kill him somehow? Ha, such bullshit.

This was all such bullshit!

“You’re lying, aren’t you?” she asked, sounding more desperate and confused than she wanted to. “You’re lying, and you’re covering it up with some stupid lie! And you think I’m too dumb to not just believe you! Well, guess what, nerd? I’m not falling for it! I’m the true thinker of this house! I know the stuff! I know two plus two is twenty-two, and that gravity isn’t real, and that 9/11 was an inside job, and that vaccines make you grow horns, and that the Earth is flat, and that _you_ are lying to me!”

Flug continued picking up the shards while he narrowed his eyes in emotional pain from hearing all of this. “Half of the things you said are conspiracy theories, you can’t do basic math, and I am not lying.”

Demencia let out a loud laugh. She felt like she was going insane; more insane than she already was. The hybrid lowered down to Flug’s level and stared at him in the eyes. Right there and then, the scientist saw a glimmer of instability that he had only seen a few times. This glimmer gave him some really bad memories. “I’m going to prove it. I’m going to prove that you were lying, and that you somehow came back from the dead. I don’t know if you’re some fucked-up zombie or something, and maybe that’s why you wear that stupid paper bag, but I’m going to prove it!” She then stood up, skipping merrily towards the door. Before the left the room, she turned to the scientist one last time. “You’ll see, Flug, you’ll see! Sleep with one eye open tonight, because this bitch is going hunting.” And then she slammed the door shut, leaving Flug all alone.

He sighed, looking at the broken shards of the beaker in his hand. His other hand went to his chest, where the acid had hit him before. Flug let out a long sigh of despair.

“I hate myself.”

 

**_.  .  ._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have my bae having an existential crisis. Ah, how life imitates art and vice versa.
> 
> If y'all want, tell me in the comments who breaks faster: Flug or Demencia. Both are already pretty dead emotionally right now. And, if you guys ask why I updated this fanfic before SoL, my answer is basically: this fanfic's chapters are much shorter than SoL's (but I still put an equal amount of hard work in both).
> 
> Anyway, see ya in the next chapter.


	3. A much awaited heart-to-heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda has carried the guilt of keeping her brother's runaway a secret for three whole years. However, she is not the only on in the family who bears that burden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering when I'd update this fanfic, actually. It's been a loooong time. Although this fanfic isn't as popular as my other ones, it's still my child who I'll take care of. This is a weird family lol. Streak of Luck is the oldest who is successful and has a good life, and Homobros Inc is the youngest who does stupid shit and still manages to be loved, so I guess HC is the middle child who only receives a bit of attention from time to time.
> 
> However! I am still immensely grateful to all of you who actually read it and enjoy it, because it tells me you guys like it and that I should keep going, because if I please even one reader tonight, I know it'll be worth it.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter focuses more on Andromeda and her family, and how they're dealing with the fallout of Flug's escapade. There's some heavy feelings here, man.

**_.  .  ._ **

****

“We’re going on vacation!”

Dakota sighed, looking at his teenage daughter who was jumping up and down giddily on the living room, having been chanting that same sentence for hours on end. She had been in that mood since her parents broke out the news to her. Her father watched her for a moment as her eyes lit up with a glee he had never seen before, and he truly meant it. His daughter had always been a cheerful girl, but the simple mention of leaving the town she grew up in made her squeal with joy. He could understand her excitement, but was slightly annoyed at the same time. He turned back to the vegetables he had been chopping. “Andromeda, for the last time, this is not a vacation. This is a business meeting between your father’s company and its investors.” His husband, Marco, told him yesterday about the company’s travel plans, and they had a lengthy discussion about what they would do with Andromeda. Dakota bit his lower lip, remembering the dark days that he wanted to forget but was never truly able to. He tried to mask the anguished look on his face as he turned to his daughter. “Are you sure you’re able to come along? We can always ask for my sister to—”

“Oh my god, dad, I don’t need a babysitter!” Andromeda whined, crossing her arms as if this statement had personally offended her. Perhaps it had. Dakota would never know.

The man ran a hand through his hair. “I know you’re too old for a babysitter, Andromeda, but you know we’re doing this for your own good.” Before the girl could answer, he continued. “Yes, I know what you’re going to say: ‘but I’m cured, right?’ The truth is, we don’t really know. Your illness disappeared for no reason, so we don’t know if it might come back.” Andromeda wanted to argue. She could feel her tongue itching, ready for a comeback, but she remembered the promise the made to her younger brother and bit back the answer. “You understand what I’m saying, right?” The girl looked down. She had been waiting forever for an opportunity to finally explore the world, but, as always, her parents were too blind to see what was happening.

“Yeah…” she murmured as her mood dropped instantly.

Dakota looked at his daughter and felt his chest tighten in pain. He remembered holding Andromeda for the first time. He remembered thinking she was so tiny and fragile, and that he had to protect her. But now, seeing his fifteen-year-old daughter all grown up and able to take care of herself… he didn’t know what to think. Why did she grow up so fast? He could see Andromeda was suppressing her true emotions so that she wouldn’t worry her parents. Oh, she reminded her father so much of _him_ … Dakota walked up to his daughter and tilted her chin up so that she was looking in his eyes. “Annie,” he said with the utmost honesty. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…” He resisted the urge to look away in shame and continued. “I guess I can be too overprotective sometimes…” He bit his lips as he started shaking. “I just…”

“Dad…?” Andromeda asked, worried.

“I don’t want to lose you too,” Dakota finally admitted as he swooped his daughter into his arms and hugged her tightly. “I already lost my baby boy… I don’t want to lose my little princess too…” Andromeda’s eyes widened. So that’s what that was all about?

“Daddy…” she started, her voice wavering, but soon trailed off, unsure of what to say.

After a few uncomfortable seconds Dakota finally let go of his daughter and walked back to the kitchen to finish preparing their meal. Andromeda felt a pang of guilt seeing her dad so devastated. She had only seen him like this a few times. He tried his best to hide it, but, deep down, she knew he was struggling with his emotions. Because her papa, Marco, was somewhat emotionally unstable, Dakota had set it upon himself to be the ‘pillar’ of the family, the one who held everyone together when it came to feelings. He was the one they could count on to have his shit together, but Andromeda kept her knowledge of his act a secret. She knew he was faking being strong, and that he sometimes cried in the bathroom. It was excruciating to hear, and even more excruciating to watch as Dakota dove deeper into his ‘though guy’ act, neglecting his own emotions in favor of his family’s. Andromeda knew it brought him joy to feel helpful, but she also knew that this type of self-destructive behavior was razing his mental health to a crisp. No matter how many times she tried to talk to him about it, Dakota would insist he was fine and that she had nothing to worry about.

Andromeda tried not to feel guilty, but she simply couldn’t. She had been keeping a very important detail from her parents for two years: she knew all about Loki’s disappearance.

Not only that, but she did _nothing_ to prevent him from leaving.

Waking up the next day and immediately noticing the lack of her younger brother’s presence sent a shiver running down her spine. Having to blatantly lie to her parents’ faces was even worse. It was somewhat easy to pretend to be shocked by Loki’s runaway, because, honestly, the shock still hadn’t worn off. The thought of having let her little brother go, of not having done enough to convince him to stay, made her heart twist painfully. Her daddy and papa were so devastated with the loss that they did not even bother asking what had happened to Girafita, her favorite plushy that she wouldn’t let go of. Andromeda liked to think that she grew up a lot more emotionally that day, but she didn’t feel like it. Ashamed of herself, she kept everything she knew about her brother’s departure a secret. She didn’t know how her parents would react to that, and… she hated to admit it, but she was secretly afraid that they would hate her for it. In her panicked teenage mind, Dakota and Marco would blame her for not only allowing her nine-year-old brother to leave the house — or, you know, the goddamn _country_ —, but also for omitting the fact that she knew all about it.

One of her main fears was having her parents turn against each other, because she had seen it happen with a friend of hers, Holly, after her older brother died in a car crash. Holly’s parents began blaming each other for the tragic incident, and divorced shortly after. Andromeda lost sleep due to the recurring nightmares of her family’s imminent separation, but it never happened. Dakota and Marco power-walked through the conflict like champions, and made their best to assure their daughter they were fine when she knew they weren’t.

 

**_.  .  ._ **

****

_Andromeda had woken up in the middle of the night to yet another nightmare._

_This time she had dreamed (there was yet to be a verb for having a nightmare, unfortunately) about Loki… again. Most of her bad dreams seemed to concern her baby brother. It had been less than a week, and everything was already falling apart. Ever since he left, she became extremely worried for his health. Her nightmares were always about bad things happening to him. Being killed, kidnapped, assaulted… The fact that they were incredibly vivid did not help one bit. As she approached her parents’ bedroom, ready to just barge in unannounced (she always did this, so she knew it was okay), but, before she could touch the doorknob of the slightly ajar door, she heard a sound coming from inside the bedroom. She immediately started having a bad feeling, like something was wrong. She didn’t know how she felt that, but she did. She just did._

_She bit her lip. On one hand, eavesdropping was wrong and her dads heavily emphasized that. On the other hand, she wanted to know what they were saying. Andromeda so desperately wanted to be one of the adults and help her parents with their grieving. So far, she seemed to be the most mentally stable one in that house, partly because she knew her brother’s fate (somewhat), while her parents were left in the dark, with only the hope that someday their child will come back. Andromeda’s heart almost skipped a beat after that thought, because she knew… she knew he wasn’t coming back._

_He would never come back._

_Andromeda inched a little bit closer to the door, to be able to hear better what was being said. She was able to hear the conversation perfectly this way. This was a decision she would later regret._

_“How could this have happened, Dakota?!” her papa said, hysterical, in between sobs. Andromeda’s heart clenched. She could only imagine how her papa was feeling. Losing a sibling is terrible, and she felt terrible about it, but she couldn’t begin to comprehend how losing a child felt, especially when you have no idea where that child is, and when the aforementioned child is only nine-years-old. “I don’t… What if he’s been kidnapped?! What if someone found out about him and now they’re doing experiments on him as we speak?” Andromeda’s breath hitched. She had never thought of that. She knew her brother hadn’t been kidnapped, but the thought of someone finding him and doing those freaky mad scientist things to him… oh, she couldn’t bear the thought…_

_“Marco…” her daddy said, before trailing off. It seemed like he, too, had no idea what to say and those terrible thoughts were also seeping into his mind and filling him with worry. Andromeda could hear a slight waver in his voice, proof that he wasn’t in the best state to comfort anyone, but that was buried deep down as quickly as it appeared. “Honey, it’s going to be okay. Loki is a smart boy; smarter than we give him credit for. If someone knows how to deal with the world and its cruelty, it’s him.”_

_“How… how can you say that?” Marco replied between sobs. “He’s just a kid! He’s my kid! He has never even left the goddamn house! And now he’s gone forever!” And the string of heartbreaking sobs continued. Andromeda bit her lower lip. The guilt consumed her. She knew her parents deserved the truth. They deserved to know their son hadn’t been kidnapped by evil scientists to be used as a lab rat in scary, evil experiments, but she couldn’t tell them. She owed this to her brother. He was free to do his own choices, even if he was very young. And he would probably be happier this way… Even if it pained her, she would do this. She would keep that secret from her parents… for him, and only for him._

_“We just have to have faith, okay?” Dakota suggested emptily. He seemed to know deep down that having faith never solved anything. But, for now, that was their only option. They couldn’t carry on like this forever. They had jobs to do and another child to take care of. But the scar was still fresh and bleeding and sore, and they couldn’t just put a half-assed bandage on it and pretend it didn’t exist. “For now we just have to have faith.”_

_And have faith they did… until they couldn’t anymore._

**_.  .  ._ **

 

For a brief period of time, Andromeda resented her brother for leaving. Why had Loki abandoned them when he had everything he could possibly ask for? He had loving parents and a loving sister who he knew would miss him very much if he left. Then why would he even think of doing this to them? The more she thought about it, the more her frustration grew. She remembered their good memories together from ever since Loki had hatched from his egg, something that she, in her innocent four-year-old mind, did not find odd or unnatural. Not once had their parents been cruel or unfair to them. If anything, they had perhaps been too lenient. While other children were grounded for eating a cookie before dinner, Andromeda only received a disappointed look for pushing her brother down the second floor of the house with a string tightly tied around one of his canines, resulting in a broken door. Words were not necessary for Andromeda to understand the emotions her parents were trying to convey (although Loki had much more trouble in that department than she did). The mere thought of disappointing her parents was what had prevented her from getting into more trouble than a regular child.

However, the more she thought about it, the more the flaws in her fathers’ parenting came to light.

Andromeda pursed her lips bitterly as she remembered that one time her fathers forced her brother to lock himself in his room and try to become as invisible as possible so that the guests would not see him.  Their excuse at the time was that the guests did not like young children, and so it would be better for Loki to stay in his room and do something he liked… quietly. Now that she thought about it, that was a weird excuse. That had happened when Loki was four-years-old and Andromeda was eight. She could also be considered a young child at that age, right? And the most shocking thing was that this was not a one-time occurrence. She had _never_ seen Loki interact with anyone other than her or their dads; not even their grandparents knew of his existence. It was quite strange, and she had never noticed it until now, because her brother had never complained. Loki was clearly an introvert who did not like being around other people (even his family, sometimes). Her daddy and papa never really gave them an explanation, either.

Loki did not go to school like she did. Her papa, Marco, who was the smartest man in the world according to her pre-pubescent self, had worked on homeschooling him, but it seemed like Loki did not need homeschooling at all. He was surprisingly very smart and knew a lot of things Andromeda didn’t, which made her jealous sometimes. When she pointed that out to him, he shrugged and said, “You can go out.” The argument didn’t make sense at the time, but now she could clearly see what he meant. She now wished nothing more than to go back in time to give her baby brother a big hug. She wished he had mentioned this more, because, as a child, she was dense as a brick and did not know how to pick on subtle cues. She did not blame herself because, well, she _was_ a child… but she really wanted to.

Andromeda’s hands curled into fists. She pulled a cushion on the sofa closer to herself and hugged it tight. She wished she had Girafita right now, but she was currently taking care of Loki, so she didn’t mind. The habit of hugging something fluffy whenever she was distressed never really did go away, however.

Nonetheless, one question remained: why?

Was it his inhuman nature? Andromeda had always known her brother was different from her, as she was there when he hatched, and she learned fairly early that two human males-at-birth cannot have a child biologically. This meant that Marco was not her biological father (although he was much more of a parent than her mother would ever be). And that meant she was not biologically Loki’s brother. Therefore, Loki had another parent who was out there, and they weren’t human, because, for starters, humans don’t hatch. Her daddy said so, and he was the smartest human on Earth, so he had to be right (and it turned out later on that he was). Loki also looked very different from her. He had two horns at each side of his head that reminded Andromeda of a ram, and a long tail with a unique shape at the end that looked a lot like a bolt. The thing she could remember the most was his left eye, however. That eye’s sclera was not white as it was intended to be, but completely black instead. His iris was bathed in a crimson hue that would make hell jealous, and yet it was mesmerizing in its own way.

Loki’s eye could easily be an inescapable abyss, something that would allow him to manipulate those around him. When Andromeda stared into the abyss, the abyss stared back. It was a comforting sensation, however, and she would do anything to have it back.

Andromeda’s eyes explored the living room as if she hadn’t seen it a thousand times, thinking about possible explanations. So far, she had none. She remembered her brother sneaking out of the house at four years of age. Andromeda was too much of a pure, rule-obeying child to follow her brother’s lead and waltz around the neighborhood at four in the morning, but she swore on her prized Pokémon cards to never tell their parents. This now made sense. Come to think of it, all of her brother’s odd behaviors made sense in one way or another.

Putting the cushion she was smothering down, Andromeda carefully stood up and walked to the kitchen, where her dad was now chopping up different vegetables. He still seemed on edge. She could relate to that. Thinking about her next course of action for a moment, Andromeda smoothly walked up to him, making sure her presence was known so she wouldn’t startle him. Dakota was holding a knife, after all. “Uh, hey dad… can I ask you something?”

“Sure, sweetie, go ahead,” Dakota replied almost robotically, too focused on the task he was currently handing to fully pay attention to his daughter.

“Um, so, uh, why…” Andromeda cleared her throat. This was more difficult to phrase than she thought it would be. “Why didn’t you let Loki go outside… like… _ever_?”

The sound of a knife slicing through a juicy tomato and hitting the cutting board abruptly came to a stop. Andromeda’s heart leapt to her throat as she feared having done something to upset her daddy. However, after two seconds of a painfully uncomfortable silence, the sound continued again, much slower and hesitant than initially. “What do you mean, sweetie?” Dakota asked, his voice shaking a little. Andromeda could see he was trying to keep his shit together, and she found that impressive and annoying at the same time.

“It’s just… um… I remember that, whenever there were people around the house, he had to be in his room and stuff. He didn’t go to school like me, he never left the house, and nanna and poppop don’t even know he exists either!” Andromeda explained sheepishly. “I was wondering if there was a reason… I mean, of course there’s a reason… there’s always a reason,” she laughed awkwardly. _Get back on track, stupid,_ she scolded herself. “I just want to know if there was a _good_ reason.” She paused, waiting for her dad to answer, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued chopping vegetables at a languid, almost nonexistent, pace. “Was it because he was a monster?”

Suddenly Dakota turned to her, putting the knife down with such intensity that it almost turned the sliced bits of the tomato he was cutting into mashed tomatoes. “Your brother is _not_ a monster!” he yelled so loud that it reverberated throughout the room as if it were devoid of furniture. Andromeda’s eyes widened. She had never seen her dad so defensive in her entire life before. It was like that comment had become a live creature that stabbed his mother and pissed on his grandmother’s grave. After realizing what he had done, Dakota shamefully turned back to his chore.

However, Andromeda wasn’t ready to give up. She wanted answers, and she wanted them _now_. “If he’s not a monster then why did you treat him like one?”

Dakota bit his lip. “You really want to know, don’t you?”

Andromeda rolled her eyes. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be asking.”

“Don’t you sass me, young lady,” her father scolded her, although there was a vague tone of amusement in his voice. He was secretly proud that his daughter had grown bolder, and the thought did entertain him. “The truth is… we were scared.” Andromeda raised an eyebrow, possibly doubting the veracity of the answer. This did not go unnoticed by her father. He turned back to the tomatoes he had been slicing for god knows how long. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s true. You know your father used to be a villain, and he had seen how others treated those different than them. I mean, it even happens to other humans! That’s how most wars start, right? Religion, race, sexuality, ideals—”

“You’re digressing,” Andromeda cut him off.

Dakota realized he really was getting sidetracked, so he cleared his throat and continued, “W-well, as I was saying, people are scared of the unknown. They hate what’s different to them, and Loki is the most different being they might ever see; weird, even.”

“He’s not weird to me,” Andromeda argued. “He’s unique.”

“That is because you grew up with him, honey,” her father explained. “Once you grow accustomed to something, it becomes natural. It’s why, let’s say, a child who grew up eating roasted bugs will have an easier time eating a dish made of crickets than a child who grew up on McDonald’s and Mac ‘n Cheese.” The teen bit her lip. _I guess that makes sense,_ she told herself. “You’ve been with Loki even before he had hatched, but many people only grow up seeing other humans. They’d probably see a half-human with a tail, horns, and inhuman abilities as a huge red flag.”

“What about Wolfie?” Andromeda asked. She remembers Wolfie — his full name being Wolfgang Flugslys — her older cousin, son of her father’s twin sister Lenora. She had only seen Wolfie a few times throughout the years, but she remembers him very well because he shone like a firefly in a moonless night. She even remembers the nickname she gave him, Lightbulb, which she only dropped after he begged her to for years. It was no biggie, because she would later find other ways to annoy him. She found it frustrating how he would constantly talk about being a superhero, trying to convince her to play ‘hero and villain’ with him (when he knew her papa used to be a villain and her daddy… was a lawyer… which… was kind of a gray area? Eh…). “He has superpowers, right? Isn’t that weird?”

“Well, yes, but humans have had superpowers for centuries,” Dakota said. “Sometimes, heroes with odd looks have a hard time being accepted by society and have to work hard to gain their trust. Wolfgang was lucky to be born looking socially acceptable. Loki did not have as much luck, despite us having expected it to happen.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Andromeda replied, and then a thought popped into her head. “Do you think Wolfie would be shunned by society if we told them he’s secretly a furry? I mean, he used to have a herosona too, but a fursona is more interesting to talk about.”

“Don’t, Annie, just don’t,” her father quickly replied, putting the sliced tomatoes in a pan while shaking his head. “The slander lawsuit isn’t worth it.”

“It’s not slander if it’s true,” Andromeda said with a shrug. Her father looked traumatized. “’Sides, you’re a lawyer, aren’t you?”

“I don’t want to defend my own daughter against a furry defamation lawsuit,” Dakota said, grabbing an unpeeled potato. “I really don’t want to know how you know these things, so let’s talk about something else.”

“Yeah, we steered away from the main topic,” Andromeda agreed. “So, you’re telling me that you guys never let Hel leave the house?” Dakota did not answer. He continued to peel the potato, but the guilt he was feeling was practically palpable. “And he was _okay_ with it?” Dakota, once again, did not answer. “Dad, are you there? Earth to dad, Earth to dad,” Ann called, taking one step closer to her father. She approached the table they ate dinner on, and rested one of her hands on a chair. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, remembering that this chair was the one her brother used to sit in back when their family was still together. Marco had many times thought about getting rid of it, but he either didn’t have the time or the energy to do it. Ann didn’t know which one (or maybe both).

“Annie,” Dakota finally responded. “Loki was much more… receptive to ideas than a regular child. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was in his nature to be accepting of his parents’ ideas. I imagine that, for a… whatever his other parent is… it must be hard to survive in your younger years…”

Now that he said it, Andromeda realized her brother was very… open to suggestions. She remembered that one time she tried to rip his tooth out so he could experience the joy of being visited by the tooth fairy, and he agreed, despite her suggestions of how to yank his tooth out being blatantly ridiculous and failure-prone. She was eight, and he was only four. It was logical that a four-year-old would trust his older sister, but still…

“Still!” she argued, knowing this was a lost cause. Her parents were dead set on believing Loki was a helpless nine-year-old child when he was nowhere near helpless. “You don’t… You… You can’t just put someone on house arrest just because you’re afraid of what people might think of them. This is how homophobia happens, you know? Like, this is the whole plot of Frozen!” _I have no idea what I’m talking about anymore_ , Andromeda admitted internally. “But… I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I don’t want to know how sad Hel felt when he was here, locked in this house with nothing to do, not even knowing what having grandparents feels like. It’s sad.” For a brief moment, Andromeda saw a glimmer of guilt on her dad’s eyes, but that quickly disappeared as he shifted his focus on the cutting board.

“You know, Annie?” her father then said. “I still haven’t lost faith.”

“Huh?” she asked, taken aback by the sudden answer.

“I always had faith we’d see your brother again, and that he’d be happy with his life. Perhaps, he’d be happier than he was here, locked up against his will.” The sound of the sharp edge of the knife hitting the wooden board filled the room for a few seconds. After that, Andromeda nodded, smiling slightly. It seemed like her father was finally getting it.

“I’m sure he is.”

 

**_.  .  ._ **

****

In the dark of the night, Demencia hatches a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dem u gonna fuck up royally stop it.
> 
> This has been a... decent sized chapter. As decent as it's gonna get lmao. I've been having writer's guilt for not updating this sooner, or any of my fics, for that matter, but I gotta take care of my mental health. Also, my keyboard is pretty fucked up so I might wanna replace that.
> 
> Also fun fact: Goldheart will be in this fanfic! I love the name Wolfgang so much, and I'm so unoriginal, that I used it twice! Sorry, HI Flug, you're gonna have to share your name with a dumbass. Anyway, let's see what Demencia is gonna do...


End file.
